Surfer Blood

Based on name alone, Florida's Surfer Blood conjures up carefree summer moments ("Surf's up, dude!") mixed with horrific tragedy ("...and that's how I lost three of my fingers."). What their dorm-room recorded, scholarship-money-funded debut, Astro Coast, lacks in grizzly tragic moments, it makes up for with spaced-out, fuzzy summertime anthems mixed with just enough seasick reverb and somber shoegaze-y guitar to give some gravity to their levity. Cheeky and loose in all the right places, Surfer Blood cherry-picks from their favorite genres (surf, shoegaze, power pop, post rock, and a heaping helping of mid-90's college rock) and effortlessly glides in between them to make an eclectic, ambitious record of criminally infectious major-chord rock equally suited to major ragers or parties of one. GREGORY FRANKLIN